Elgar and “The Dream of Gerontius” | Conducting Electricity Elgar and “The Dream of Gerontius” Courtney Lewis 2 Comments The season is underway, and we’re getting ready for a weekend of concerts that feature a piece especially close to my heart. I doubt many of you know it since it’s rarely played outside the British Isles, yet it contains music that offers some of the concert hall’s deepest spiritual experiences. I’d like to spend this column telling you a little about Elgar’s masterpiece, The Dream of Gerontius. Edward Elgar was the first great English composer since Henry Purcell. Almost two hundred years elapsed between their births, causing Germans to refer to England as “The Land Without Music”. Born in 1857, we often associate Elgar with his Pomp and Circumstances marches and all things imperial. Yet he was anything but the quintessential Edwardian gentleman. He was born in the provinces, near Worcester in Gloucestershire, the son of a humble shopkeeper. In a brutally class-conscience society, this made him an outsider. Worst of all, he was a Catholic in a fastidiously devout Episcopalian country. Elgar’s rise to fame was slow.

He was 42 when his “Variations on an Original Theme” (usually referred to as the Enigma Variations) catapulted him to international attention. By then he had spent years teaching unpromising students and even conducting the band of the local lunatic asylum. Most astonishingly, and I think uniquely in music history, he was entirely self-taught in composition, studying scores as a boy at the back of his father’s music shop. Immediately after the success of the Enigma Variations, Elgar was commissioned to write an oratorio by the Birmingham Three Choirs Festival. Handel’s influence on British musical culture had been so great that the oratorio was seen as the most prestigious vehicle for composition, and the festival’s prestige offered Elgar a great opportunity. A few years before he had been married, and at his wedding the priest had given him a copy of a poem by Cardinal Newman. To understand the significance of this, we need to wade into a little history. In the middle of the nineteenth century, the Oxford Movement sought to reincorporate some of the mystical and liturgical elements of Catholicism that had been stripped from the Church of England during the Reformation.

John Henry Newman was an Episcopal priest who converted to Catholicism, later becoming a Cardinal. He wrote a poem entitled “The Dream of Gerontius”, and it was a copy of this that Elgar was given at his wedding. “The Dream of Gerontius” tells the story of a devout believer and his journey through death into the afterlife, his judgement by God, and his descent into Purgatory where he will prepare and atone before entering heaven. “Gerontius” just means an old man, and in the poem, he represents all of us – he’s an Everyman. Elgar’s composition is in two parts. In part one, we meet Gerontius on his deathbed. His friends are standing around the bed praying; this is a drama of life and death. The prelude sets up a faltering mood in the orchestra, as if we can imagine Gerontius’s heartbeat ceasing to pulse. We hear music from his life, from the church. His friends sing a Kyrie, the beginning of the mass. As he lies dying, Gerontius reminds himself of his faith. He’s encouraged by the songs of those around him, and he steels himself for the journey ahead.

By part two, Gerontius has moved into the afterlife. On hearing an utterly timeless music containing no pulse, he realises he has entered a realm in which time has eased to tick. Almost immediately he meets his guardian angel who explains she will guide him to the judgement court, where he will see God for one brief moment. Gerontius travels through a terrifying throng of demons who try to drag him down into hell. He arrives at the holiest place, where choirs of angels sing “Praise to the Holiest in the heights, and in the depths be praise”. Even writing those lines gives me goosebumps as I imagine the music that accompanies them. After a terrifying walk into the court of judgement, Gerontius sees God for one brief moment. Elgar asks every instrument in the orchestra to play “with the greatest possible force” – a terrifying effect. Chastened by God’s majesty and his own wretchedness, the archangel takes Gerontius down into Purgatory, where he will remain until his soul is purified and ready for heaven. Elgar paints this astonishing journey in music of incredible psychological nuance.

The score is full of leitmotifs: fragments of melody that act as specific memories of previous thoughts and fears. The Dream of Gerontius is unlike anything else in music. It’s not an opera, yet it is highly dramatic, featuring three soloists, three choruses and an enormous orchestra. Because its construction is highly symphonic, the label ‘oratorio’ seems equally unsuitable. The mystical atmosphere, the shifting chromaticism of the harmony – which makes us feel unsteady and unsafe – the heartfelt Romanticism, and the symphonic nature of its composition have drawn many to compare it to Wagner’s music drama Parsifal. There’s much to say for that, although Elgar’s statement is much more personal. So what does this arcane subject have to say to us today, shrouded as it is in theology that seems almost irrelevant at the remove of a century? From his first word, we identify with Gerontius. We understand his fear of the unknown, his uncertainty, and his desire to comprehend both the meaning of his own life and what might come next. We experience all this even if we don’t believe the story. The music creates another world, far from the familiarity and tawdriness of earthly life.

Elgar’s orchestration is perhaps the greatest of any Romantic composer, astonishing in its lushness and clarity. From the first to last moment we are swept away by its seductive and terrifying strength. I think every musician has a composer with whom he especially identifies. I don’t mean Mozart, Beethoven or Haydn – they are at the centre of everything we do. But another composer, perhaps off the beaten track, who seems to speak our particular accent and touch our innermost being. For me, that composer is Elgar. No other Romantic seems to be speaking to me quite as directly. His music makes one want to be a better person, while reminding one that someone else has experienced every doubt, every joy, and every moment of nostalgia. This is one of the greatest comforts music can offer us. Of all Elgar’s masterpieces, perhaps Gerontius is his greatest. This is music that makes the spirit soar, while imparting a grave humility.

Elgar felt this too, inscribing the final page of the score with a quotation from John Ruskin’s Sesame and Lilies: “This is the best of me; for the rest, I ate, and drank, and slept, loved and hated, like another: my life was as the vapour and is not; but this I saw and knew; this, if anything of mine, is worth your memory.” The classical repertoire is full of inspiring, life-changing music. But personally, few works have haunted and enriched my life as much as Gerontius. It’s a piece that refuses to let you go, challenging you to ask yourself the deepest questions about life and death. I’m delighted to introduce it to Jacksonville for the first time, and I hope you’ll consider joining us on November 11 and 12. Reprinted with the kind permission of the Florida Times-Union. The Dream of Gerontius, oratorio… | Details | AllMusic google+ Description by Wayne Reisig "This, if anything of mine, is worth your memory," wrote Edward Elgar (quoting Ruskin) regarding his oratorio The Dream of Gerontius.

The composer, often self-deprecating about even his most ambitious works, felt that this effort, inspired by a poem of Cardinal Newman , represented his finest music. Elgar received a copy of Newman's poem as a wedding present from his priest, and it struck a particular chord with him; in fact, the poem -- which explained Roman Catholic theological views on the immortal soul in an accessible manner -- had a tremendous vogue in the late Victorian era. Elgar edited the text down to about half its orginal size for the sake of musical economy, but he managed to do so without altering the essence of the poem. The 1900 premiere under Richter at the Birmingham Festival was marred by insufficient rehearsal, but at its German premiere a year later it was hailed as a masterpiece. Subsequent British performances quickly established the work in the repertory. The central character of Gerontius is an imperfect, yet decent, man who is riddled with doubts on his deathbed. An angel comes to him during his last moments to give him a glimpse of the afterlife, culminating in an overwhelming vision of God. Gently the angel returns his ward to a death which will now be a peaceful transition.

The prelude to the oratorio commences with a fade-in, as a candle's light would gradually illuminate a dark room. Here the hesitating, vague rhythm would seem to represent the labored breathing of the dying man. A typically Elgar ian martial theme emerges, in major but quickly souring into anguished minor, evoking a crisis of faith. Part One of the oratorio proper commences; it consists of a dialogue between Gerontius, alternately offering supplication and despairing, and the clerical assistants, praying for his soul. Hope is found in the buoyant and noble "Proficisere" of the priest ("Go upon thy journey, Christian soul!"), in Elgar 's nobilmente mode, answered by the chorus of assistants and subsiding to a serene close. Part Two commences, again nebulous but purged of torment, as Gerontius' soul speculates on this strange new existence and is joined by his angel who will lead him to the Almighty. They travel past the underworld, depicted in the "Demon's Chorus" by a restless, shadowy fugue punctuated by grotesque laughter.

The angel assures the soul that they are past their harm, and presently they come before the choir of angels, depicted in the work's most glorious music, "Praise to the Holiest." This ethereal and childlike section is usually performed by a children's chorus. The soul is brought before God, inspiring uncomprehending awe; at this point comes Gerontius' moving aria, "Take me away." The angel soothes Gerontius and returns him to a gentler leave-taking, as the oratorio comes to a serene, transfigured close with "The Angel's Farewell," perhaps Elgar 's most sensitive music. Parts/Movements No. 2, Jesu Maria, I am near to death No. 3, Kyrie eleison No. 4, Rouse thee, my fainting soul No. 5, Sanctus fortis No. 6, I can no more No. 7, Rescue him, O Lord No. 8, Proficiscere, anima Christiana No. 9, Go in the name of Angels No. 10, I went to sleep No. 11, It is a member of that family No. 12a, Low-born clods of brute earth No.

12b, Dispossessed, aside thrust No. 13, I see not those false spirits No. 14, Praise to the Holiest No. 15a, But hark! a grand mysterious harmony No. 15b, Praise to the Holiest No. 16, Thy judgement now is near No. 17, Jesu! by that shuddering dread No. 18, Take me away No. 19, Lord, Thou hast been our refuge No.

20, Softly and gently Appears On Daniel Barenboim conducts Elgar’s “The Dream of Gerontius” Daniel Barenboim conducts Elgar’s “The Dream of Gerontius” Anna Larsson, Ian Storey, Kwangchoul Youn, Rundfunkchor Berlin Edward Elgar The Dream of Gerontius (01:41:05) Anna Larsson Mezzo-Soprano, Ian Storey Tenor, Kwangchoul Youn Bass, Rundfunkchor Berlin, Simon Halsey Chorus Master free Artist biographies As the BBC once said in the introduction to a concert, Edward Elgar’s oratorio The Dream of Gerontius is seen in Great Britain as a “national monument”. While the work enjoys nearly the same esteem as Handel’s Messiah and Mendelssohn’s Elijah in its native, almost every performance abroad is seen as a rediscovery. And it is to such that the Berliner Philharmoniker and conductor Daniel Barenboim invite you with this concert. To make The Dream of Gerontius comprehensible to audiences, comparisons are often drawn – but these only partially go to the core of the work.

Strauss’s Death and Transfiguration is comparable, according to some: As with Elgar, it is about someone dying who ultimately achieves heavenly bliss, but in contrast to Strauss, it is not about fighting and heroism, but a spiritual vision of the transition to the afterlife. Parallels are also often drawn to Wagner’s music, which Elgar revered. The through-composed structure is doubtlessly inspired by Wagner in that there is no division into arias and choruses. And there are also some elements reminiscent of Parsifal. Overall, however, The Dream of Gerontius is a completely independent composition with an individual musical language and a penetrating power of faith. One of the first continental Europeans who recognized the value of the oratorio was, incidentally, Richard Strauss, who after a performance, praised Elgar as “the first English progressive musician”. “... a strange refreshment ...” Edward Elgar’s Oratorio The Dream of Gerontius A Vision of Death and the Afterlife Praying, dreaming, dying: a soul is divested of its earthly covering and awakens in the world of spirit. Led by an angel he passes by the demons assembled at the judgement court and approaches the throne of God.

Intercession by the Angel of the Agony brings him a lenient judgement. His Soul is gently lowered by the Angel into the waters of Purgatory to await its reawakening. Nearly 100 minutes of music for a story that takes place outside of time and space. Edward Elgar’s oratorio The Dream of Gerontius, composed in 1900 and first performed that year in Birmingham under the great Austrian conductor Hans Richter, is the setting of a poem by John Henry Cardinal Newman. Much-loved and performed in Britain and, to a lesser extent, other English-speaking countries, Gerontius in this country is rarely given except by choral societies, even though the first German performance (a “most excellent interpretation”, wrote the correspondent from the Times of London) took place only a year after the under-rehearsed, nearly disastrous Birmingham premiere – sung in German translation and conducted by Julius Buth, in Düsseldorf, the birthplace of Elgar’s publisher and closest friend A. J. Jaeger.

In 1902, another performance in that city was enthusiastically acclaimed by Richard Strauss and, the same year, Gerontius was first performed by the Berliner Philharmoniker,under the baton of Ferruccio Busoni. The Composer and his Life Elgar, generally considered one of the most English of all English composers, always felt himself to be an outsider. Being a Roman Catholic was a source of tension in a staunchly Protestant land, and being an artist was something he felt a need to suppress in the staid social establishment of his provincial upbringing. Nevertheless, his wife, a general’s daughter, went over the Roman faith before the birth of their son, even though Elgar’s Protestant father, a music dealer in Worcester and organist at that city’s St. George’s Roman Catholic Church, officially converted to Catholicism only on his deathbed. Edward helped out his father in the shop and in church, where, with little formal training, he absorbed whatever he could and soon became proficient on the piano, organ and bassoon as well as on the violin (which he played in the Worcester Festival, including under Dvořák) and as a violin teacher and conductor of church and workers’ choirs.

Elgar wrote his great choral works for festivals. The Dream of Gerontius and his subsequent oratorios The Apostles (1903) and The Kingdom (1906) as well as the ode The Music Makers (1912) were all composed for the Birmingham Triennial Festival, whose earlier commissions had included Mendelssohn’s Elijah. Elgar’s steady production of monumental works ended abruptly, however, with the death of his wife in 1920. A few years later he began a major series of recordings, conducting his own works for HMV, but even with the encouragement in 1932 of his friend George Bernard Shaw, he was unable to complete the composition of his Third Symphony, which remained fragmentary at his death two years later. The Dream, a Dying Newman’s epic poem The Dream of Gerontius appeared in 1865 and found great favour even in non-Catholic circles. Elgar received a copy in 1889, probably as a wedding present, although he had first read the poem much earlier and for many years pondered how he might set it to music.

Then in 1900, he completed the huge score of his oratorio within a few months. He had prepared the libretto himself, making substantial cuts in the text, especially the second part, after discussions with Fr. Richard Bellasis, trustee of Cardinal Newman’s literary estate. The remarkable rigour of Elgar’s composition overcomes any lack of external drama and makes the difficult subject matter accessible to all listeners. Part I, just over half an hour in length and introduced by a thematically concentrated orchestral prelude in D major/minor, is taken up with Gerontius’s prayers, dreams and death, culminating in the Priest sending his Soul on its way to Heaven. Gentle exultation is the basic tone of Part II, lasting roughly an hour, in which the Soul is accompanied by the Angel on its final journey. The belief that all things that decay are “only a likeness” (Goethe), all things earthly only a trial for departing from and entering the spiritual world, has seldom been set to music as potently yet serenely as in this work. Even the immediate fear of physical death that briefly afflicts Gerontius at the end of Part I is depicted with comparative discretion by the orchestra.

The string complement, subdivided into 16 parts, is initially held down to pppp until the harmony takes on an unusual chromatic colouring, underscoring the dying man’s struggle. At once, the chorus cries out “Rescue him, O Lord” and then it too is magically divided: a semi-chorus, supported by the organ, prays for Gerontius; it is answered by the larger chorus with melismatic Amens. In Part II, Elgar divides the chorus into Demons, Angels, Souls in Purgatory and praying “Voices on Earth”. Although The Dream of Gerontius is primarily conceived as a choral work, it contains a highly demanding solo part, one requiring great stamina: the tenor, who portrays Gerontius in Part I and his Soul in Part II. He is present over long stretches of the work and must stand up to a large ensemble throughout an extremely wide and differentiated range of dynamics, mostly restrained. Alongside him is the solo bass embodying the Priest praying for Gerontius in Part I and the Angel of the Agony praying for his Soul in Part II.

When Gerontius awakens in the second part and, against gently pulsating strings, feels “a strange refreshment”, a guiding Angel (mezzo-soprano) appears and enters into a dialogue in recitative with the Soul that forms the framework of Part II upon which the successive otherworldly phases unfold. The Dream of Gerontius has often been compared with Wagner’s Parsifal, which surely says more about the inspiration of Elgar’s work than its execution. As a detailed compositional vision of the hereafter – apart from settings of the Requiem – Gerontius is a musical rarity. Perhaps the most astonishing exception to that assertion was provided by Gustav Mahler, whose Fourth Symphony, ending with the song Das himmlische Leben (Heavenly Life), was composed at the same time as but completely independently of Gerontius. At first glance, no work could seem farther removed from Elgar’s oratorio than this symphony in which Mahler makes use of such far-flung elements as sleighbells and a mistuned violin.

The apparent irony of the cheerful hereafter conjured up in Mahler’s finale with soprano solo, based on a text from Des Knaben Wunderhorn, also seems worlds away from the solemn gravity of Cardinal Newman and Elgar. In fact, the opposite is true. It was by no means the intention of Mahler, who had converted to Catholicism only three years before, to poke fun at the eschatology of his newly acquired faith. Mahler completed the draft score of his Fourth on 6 August 1900, exactly two months after Elgar wrote the final bar of Gerontius. The last lines set by Mahler in the symphony read: “Die englischen Stimmen / Ermuntern die Sinnen, / Dass alles für Freuden erwacht” (“The angelic voices / delight the senses, / for all things awake to joy.” Elgar at the end of Gerontius has the Angel sing: “Be brave and patient on thy bed of sorrow; … And I will come and wake thee on the morrow.” Both works then die away in the major as softly as possible – these two great visionaries leave the final awakening to us listeners.

Olaf Wilhelmer Translation: Richard Evidon Daniel Barenboim and the Berliner Philharmoniker can look back on an artistic partnership lasting forty-five years. It was as a pianist that Barenboim made his debut with the orchestra under the direction of Pierre Boulez in June 1964. He first conducted the orchestra five years later. At his most recent appearance in April 2010 he conducted works by Brahms, Wagner, and Elgar. As soloist, he performed the two Chopin Piano Concertos with the orchestra in October 2010 (concductor: Asher Fisher). Daniel Barenboim was born in Buenos Aires in 1942 but moved to Israel with his parents ten years later. His first piano teacher was his mother, followed by his father. He was ten when he made his professional debut in Vienna and Rome, and it was not long before he was undertaking international tours. He made his conducting debut in London in 1967 and since then has appeared with leading orchestras throughout Europe and the United States.

The most important stages in his career to date have been as principal conductor of the Orchestre de Paris from 1975 to 1989, as music director of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra from 1991 to 2006 and as general music director of Berlin’s Staatsoper Unter den Linden since 1992. In the autumn of 2002 the Berlin Staatskapelle appointed him principal conductor for life. Barenboim has additionally appeared as a guest conductor at many international festivals, including the Bayreuth Festival, where he conducted a number of important productions every year from 1981 to 1999. Since the start of the 2007/08 season he has also worked closely with La Scala, Milan, in the role of Maestro Scaligero and since December 2011 as their Music Director. In 1999 Barenboim and the Palestinian writer Edward Said set up the West-Eastern Divan Workshop, which every summer brings together young musicians from Israel and the Arab countries in order that the shared experience of communal music-making may encourage dialogue between the different cultures of the Middle East.

In 2002 Barenboim and Said received the Príncipe de Asturias Prize for their peace efforts in fostering international understanding. Among other awards that Daniel Barenboim has received are the Großes Verdienstkreuz of the Federal Republic of Germany and the Ernst von Siemens Music Prize; he was named »Grand officier dans l’ordre national de la Légion d’honneur« in France and »Knight Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire«. The Rundfunkchor Berlin, founded in 1925, produced great musical moments of the 1920s and 30s under the direction of conductors such as George Szell, Hermann Scherchen, Otto Klemperer and Erich Kleiber. After the Second World War, the choir and its principal conductor Helmut Koch made the oratorios of Handel internationally known in their original versions.

Dietrich Knothe (1982 – 1993) formed the choir into a precision instrument for the most difficult of works; Robin Gritton (1994 – 2001) both enriched and refined the ensemble’s palette of colours. Since 2001, the Rundfunkchor Berlin has been led by Simon Halsey, who places particular emphasis on stylistic and linguistic perfection, resulting in lively and exciting performances of works from all periods and in all styles. Their work together is documented by a busy recording schedule; recently their CD of Kaija Saariaho’s opera L’amour de loin with the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester conducted by Kent Nagano won the 2010 Grammy Award for best opera recording. Simon Halsey, who was awarded the “Bundesverdienstkreuz” (Cross of the Order of Merit) in January 2011, has also initiated many of the choir’s education and outreach projects, the interdisciplinary event series Broadening the Scope of Choral Music as well as the annual Sing-along Concert.

The choir has been a partner of leading orchestras and conductors all over the world, including long-standing partnerships with the Rundfunk-Sinfonieorchester Berlin, the Deutsches Symphonie-Orchester and the Berliner Philharmoniker. The Rundfunkchor Berlin last appeared with the Berliner Philharmoniker in December 2011 performing Poulenc’s Gloria, conducted by Nicola Luisotti. Kwangchul Youn received his musical training in his native South Korea as well as in Sofia and Berlin. A winner of several competitions, he gave his debut in 1988 in Seoul, and was an ensemble member at the Staatsoper Unter den Linden in Berlin from the 1993/94 season until 2004. Since then, engagements have taken him to the major opera houses, such as those in Vienna, Munich, Frankfurt, Leipzig, Hamburg, London, Paris, Barcelona, Buenos Aires and New York. Kwangchul Youn’s repertoire includes stage works by Mozart, Beethoven, Rossini, Gounod, Verdi, Strauss and, in particular, Richard Wagner.

The bass performs at prestigious festivals (such as Bayreuth, Ludwigsburg and Salzburg) and also enjoys international success on the concert stage. In addition, he regularly gives recitals with his regular accompanist Helmut Oertel. Kwangchul Youn performed with the Berliner Philharmoniker for the first time in May 2002 in the bass role of Mozart’s Requiem under the baton of Daniel Barenboim; his most recent Berlin concerts with the orchestra were in mid-March 2007 with three performances of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis, conducted by Bernard Haitink. Since 2009, Youn Kwangchoul has been a professor at the College of Music at Seoul National University. Ian Storey is from Chilton in the English county of Durham. He first studied furniture design at the University of Loughborough before training as a singer in New Zealand and London (including at the National Opera Studio), Milan and Trieste. His stage career began in 1991 at Opera East as the Male Chorus in Benjamin Britten’s The Rape of Lucretia.

Since then, Ian Storey has developed a broad repertoire which, in addition to the standard works of the 19th and 20th century from Bizet to Shostakovich, also includes rarely-heard operas such as The Olympians by Arthur Bliss and A Tale of Two Cities by Arthur Benjamin. Engagements have taken the tenor not only to the major British opera companies, but also to La Scala in Milan, Zurich Opera, the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Frankfurt Opera, the Royal Swedish Opera in Stockholm, the Washington National Opera and, in Berlin, to the Deutsche Oper and the Staatsoper im Schiller Theater. In addition, he has also performed at major festivals such as those at Glyndebourne, Edinburgh, St Gallen and Torre del Lago. In addition to his opera commitments, the artist is also invited to perform as a concert soloist with leading symphony orchestras; this will be his debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker. In 2008, Ian Storey was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters (DLitt) by Loughborough University, and is the official representative of the English county of Herefordshire.

The Swedish singer Anna Larsson has established herself on the opera stage and in the concert hall as one of the most renowned altos internationally. Her repertoire ranges from Monteverdi’s Orfeo, the great masses of Bach and Beethoven, Verdi’s Requiem and the vocal-symphonic works of Brahms and Mahler, to Bernstein’s Symphony No. 1 (Jeremiah).As an opera singer, Anna Larsson focuses on roles in the music dramas of Richard Wagner in which she has appeared at theatres such as the Royal Opera houses in Copenhagen and Stockholm, the Théâtre de la Monnaie in Brussels, the state opera houses in Vienna, Munich and Berlin and at festivals including Salzburg, Florence and Aix-en-Provence. This season, she sings Erda in Das Rheingold at the Staatsoper im Schiller Theater in Berlin under the baton of Daniel Barenboim. The artist regularly performs with the world’s leading orchestras and conductors.

She made her debut with the Berliner Philharmoniker in the soprano part in Mahler’s Second Symphony (conducted by Claudio Abbado) during a European tour by the orchestra in October 1997; she most recently performed with the orchestra in Berlin as Erda in Wagner’s Rheingold conducted by Sir Simon Rattle in mid-June 2006. Anna Larsson, who is also a passionate performer of lieder, was named Royal Court Singer by King Carl XVI Gustaf in 2010. In summer 2011 she opened her own concert hall Vattnäs Konsertlada near Mora (Sweden). Daniel Barenboim appears by courtesy of Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft. Watch now oratorio | music | Britannica.com Oratorio choral music Oratorio, a large-scale musical composition on a sacred or semisacred subject, for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra . An oratorio’s text is usually based on scripture, and the narration necessary to move from scene to scene is supplied by recitatives sung by various voices to prepare the way for airs and choruses.

A basically dramatic method is used in all successful oratorios, though they may or may not be produced with theatrical action. The oratorio is not intended for liturgical use, and it may be performed in both churches and concert halls. The principal schools of oratorios are the Italian, essentially a form of religious opera; the German, developed from treatment of the Passion story; and the English, synthesized by the composer George Frideric Handel from several forms. The term oratorio derives from the oratory of the Roman church in which, in the mid-16th century, St. Philip Neri instituted moral musical entertainments, which were divided by a sermon, hence the two-act form common in early Italian oratorio. The golden age of oratorio: 1600–c. 1750 The earliest surviving oratorio is Rappresentazione di anima et di corpo ( The Representation of Soul and Body ) by Emilio del Cavaliere , produced in 1600 with dramatic action, including ballet. Toward the mid-17th century Giacomo Carissimi introduced a more sober type with a Latin text based on the Old Testament .

His oratorios (some short, some longer) are simple and free from extravagance and make effective use of the chorus. Their style is basically operatic, though, and the most memorable episodes are those in which the narrative is interrupted and the characters express their emotions. Latin- and Italian-language types of oratorios continued in use, but the vernacular Italian oratorio volgare, sung by virtuoso singers, was more popular and flourished until the late 18th century. Stage action had been abandoned in the oratorios of Italy by the late 18th century. The French composer Marc-Antoine Charpentier , who studied with Carissimi, successfully transferred the Italian oratorio to France. Similar Topics Pulitzer Prize The German oratorio began with Heinrich Schütz , a composer whose style is a blend of German and Italian elements. His oratorios, confined to Gospel subjects, show great powers of emotional expression and anticipate those of Johann Sebastian Bach in their vigorous treatment of the choruses. In his Easter Oratorio (published 1623) Schütz retains the old convention of setting the words of each character for two or more voices.

His oratorios achieve a balance between austerity and exuberance, but by the late 17th century this balance had been disturbed. Passion oratorio texts (dealing with the death of Jesus) of this period often abandon biblical words for a mixture of rhymed paraphrase and lyrical commentary of a more or less sentimental nature. Listen: Bach, J.S.: St. John Passion, BWV 245 The aria “Lasset uns den nicht Zerteilen” from J.S. Bach’s St. … J.S. Bach ’s two great Passion oratorios, the Passion According to St. John (first performed 1724) and the Passion According to St. Matthew (1729), restored the balance attained by Schütz, though they are written on a greater scale and are enriched by the introduction of the later Italian aria . Bach, besides increasing the significance of the chorale , or congregational hymn , used the evangelist’s narrative as a framework for binding the dramatic element (the words of the characters) to the epic and contemplative sections (arias, chorales, opening and final choruses).

There is nothing novel about Bach’s settings except their genius, which holds the long and complex structure in perfect balance. The Christmas Oratorio and other works by Bach that bear the name oratorio are more properly church cantatas. G.F. Handel ’s oratorios are essentially theatrical presentations that reflect his experience as an opera composer. Most of his oratorios use biblical stories put into modern librettos. Influenced by opera, masque, and even Greek tragedy, they were performed by opera singers in theatres (though ecclesiastical prejudice forbade stage action) and have no direct connection with the church. The breadth of Handel’s achievement in the genre has been distorted by the concentration of posterity on such oratorios as Saul and Israel in Egypt (1739), Messiah (1742), and Samson (1743). In these and Handel’s other oratorios, his mastery of characterization and of every type of choral utterance is crowned by a deep and sympathetic pondering of the moral issues involved in the story.

Oratorio after 1750 Listen: “Creation, The”: excerpt from “The Creation” Excerpt from the oratorio The Creation (1798) by Joseph Haydn. After Bach and Handel, oratorio on the European continent, apart from the works of Joseph Haydn , ceased to represent a vital, creative tradition. Haydn’s Die Schöpfung (1798; The Creation ) shows the impact of Handel’s oratorios and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart’s operas, fusing these epic and dramatic elements with Haydn’s own mature mastery of symphonic style to make the work a masterpiece. Haydn called Die Jahreszeiten (1801; The Seasons ) an oratorio, though its content is secular and its form a loosely articulated series of evocative pieces. Ludwig van Beethoven’s single oratorio, Christus am Ölberg (1803; Christ on the Mount of Olives), does not succeed, nor do most of those occasioned by the 19th-century large halls, choral societies, and festivals, especially in Germany and England.

Christianity Quiz Felix Mendelssohn ’s Elijah (1846) is one of the few 19th-century oratorios still performed. Mendelssohn’s promotion of the revival of Bach’s music and his experience of Handel’s music led him to attempt a fusion of the two styles. Elijah is remarkable for the vitality of the choruses, but Mendelssohn’s earlier oratorio St. Paul (1836) has been criticized as expressing no religious emotion except in terms of respectable complacency . Germany produced little of consequence after Mendelssohn, unless Ein deutsches Requiem ( A German Requiem; 1868), a setting of texts from Martin Luther’s Bible by Johannes Brahms , is classed as an oratorio. The two oratorios of Franz Liszt , Christus (composed 1855–56) and Die Legende von der heiligen Elisabeth ( The Legend of St. Elizabeth; 1873), combine devotional and theatrical elements on the grandest scale. Italian oratorio remained in abeyance after the 18th century, and Slavic composers produced few oratorios.

Perhaps the only French oratorio of major importance is L’Enfance du Christ (1854) by Hector Berlioz , a series of theatrical tableaus. Connect with Britannica Facebook Twitter YouTube Instagram Pinterest A masterpiece of 20th-century English oratorio is Sir Edward Elgar’s Dream of Gerontius (1900). The poem by Cardinal Newman on which it is based has a dramatic framework within which the music could expand without becoming disorderly. Igor Stravinsky’s opera-oratorio Oedipus Rex (1927), with a Latin text, was most successful in the opera house. The Swiss Frank Martin was one of the most active oratorio composers in the mid-20th century. A number of large-scale works, generally secular in content, have come out of the Soviet Union and eastern European communist countries and China. An especially notable oratorio is the St. Luke Passion of the Polish composer Krzysztof Penderecki . See also Passion music . More about oratorio oratorio - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up) The large-scale musical composition for solo voices, chorus, and orchestra using a sacred or semisacred text is known as an oratorio.

It is not intended for use during religious ceremonies, but texts are usually based on scripture. The narration used to shift the vocal setting from scene to scene is most often sung in recitative, or free declamatory, style. Recitatives are sung by various voices to prepare for solo arias and choruses. The word oratorio comes from the oratory of a church in Rome where St. Philip Neri instituted musical entertainments in the mid-16th century for the reform of the youth of the city. The principal types of oratorio are the Italian, basically a form of religious opera; the German, which developed from treatment of the Passion story; and the English, created by George Frideric Handel as a synthesis of several forms. All three types reached their climax in the works of Johann Sebastian Bach in Germany and Handel in England. Article History Elgar - His Music : The Dream of Gerontius Dedicated to : AMDG (Ad Majorem Dei Gloriam) Cardinal Newman's poem tells of the journey of a man's soul after death - Gerontius may be translated roughly as old man. Elgar was given a copy of the poem in 1889 as a wedding present.

But, while he undoubtedly toyed with the idea of setting it to music intermittently over the intervening period, the decision to do so for the 1900 Birmingham festival appears to have been taken somewhat at the last minute - his earlier ideas for the festival describe a work which eventually emerged as The Apostles . The first performance was not a success. Neither W C Stockley, the chorus master, nor Hans Richter, the conductor, had grasped the complexity of the work and allowed insufficient time for rehearsals. But the more perceptive members of the audience recognised the work's merit. These included Julius Buths, director of the Lower Rhine Festival, who staged the work in Dusseldorf in 1901. The performance, to a packed audience of 2500, was an unqualified success and was followed in March 1903 by further acclaimed performances on successive nights - the first by the Halle Orchestra, under Richter in Manchester, the second in Hanley with Elgar himself conducting. Today, the work is undoubtedly the most popular of all Elgar's choral works, and indeed among the most frequently performed of all his works.

Surely no-one can remain unmoved by the priest's invocation to Gerontius - as part 1 ends - to 'go forth' ('Proficiscere, anima Christiana'); nor, in part 2, by the chorus of 'Praise to the Holiest', the words of which were also taken to form the well-known hymn. But these excerpts should not be allowed overshadow much other beautiful writing in the piece. And, while early commentators may have been wary of the work's essentially Catholic stance (the composer Charles Villiers Stanford is reported to have said the work 'stank of incense'), most now are struck more by the dramatic intensity and integrity of the subject. The work continues to be performed regularly throughout Britain. 3 October 2000 saw the centenary of the work's first performance, leading to a much increased interest in the work. In recognition of this interest, and as a service both to performers and to visitors to this website, we have expanded our coverage of the work by adding new pages providing more detailed coverage of the history of the work and of the coming year's events. Follow the links in the box below to reach these additional pages. .

Elgar - His Music : The Dream of Gerontius - Composition of the Oratorio Life after Death How Elgar came to write the Work It was in the Summer of 1898 that Elgar was first asked if he would write a major new work for the 1900 Birmingham Triennial Festival. Elgar accepted, but remained pre-occupied for much of 1899 with other, more pressing matters. During the first months of 1899, he was still hard at work on the Enigma Variations . Then, on 21 March, the Elgars moved from Forli to a far more imposing detached property which Elgar promptly named Craeg Lea , situated overlooking the Wells Road some way south of the town centre. Following the first, successful performance of the Variations on 19 June 1899, his friend, August Jaeger , feeling the original ending to be somewhat perfunctory, persuaded Elgar to compose the extended ending with which we are familiar today. Elgar worked on the new ending during the Summer and the revised work was first performed on 13 September 1899 at that year's Three Choirs Festival, held in Worcester.

During the same period, from 11 July until 18 August, he also composed Sea Pictures , his setting for contralto and orchestra of five poems with a maritime theme. The work received its première on 5 October at that year's Norwich Festival, with Clara Butt singing. It is therefore not surprising that Elgar appears to have given little further thought to the work for Birmingham until the Autumn of 1899. Elgar had owned a copy of Newman's poem since at least 1885; he had been given a further copy as a present on his marriage to Alice in May 1889. By his own admission, Elgar had been considering setting Newman's poem for at least eight years, and Alice's diary for September 1899 records that, in the margins of a Three Choirs concert, 'E. walked with Father Bellasis', a priest from the Birmingham Oratory who had known Newman personally. But the implication that Elgar was at this point considering setting Newman's poem for the Birmingham festival is not borne out by subsequent events. In November 1899, Elgar sent Jaeger his first sketches for a new work which eventually became The Apostles .

But by early January 1900, Elgar was coming to realise that he had left himself insufficient time to complete this work. On 12 January, Elgar instead began to adapt his poem to provide a more satisfactory libretto. Work now progressed rapidly : on 2 March, he sent Jaeger the first forty-four pages of the score; and the remainder of Part I followed on 20 March. Like his contemporaries Sibelius and Mahler, Elgar drew much inspiration from the countryside. In May 1898, while still living at Forli, the Elgars acquired the use of Birchwood , a cottage near Storridge on the border of Worcestershire and Herefordshire. Despite its comparative proximity to Malvern, the atmosphere was a world apart. It was to Birchwood that Elgar fled to find the peace, quiet and inspiration he needed to complete Gerontius against the tight deadlines he now faced. He used a south-facing room on the first floor at the front of the property as his study, with views along the length of the Malvern Hills towards British Camp.

And when he failed to find the stimulus he sought from the view from his study window, he would take to the fields and lanes around Birchwood. The entry in Alice's diary for 2 May is of particular interest. It reads : "E. for walk from Bransford to Powyke [sic]. Writing lovely part." With the necessary preconditions in place, Elgar converted fragmentary ideas into a complex and fully worked out vocal score with surprising rapidity. As has already been noted, he completed Part I in a two-month period between January and March 1900. Part II occupied a similar timespan despite the distraction of proofs of Part I requiring correction which began to arrive at Craeg Lea in early April. By late May, the vocal score was complete apart from the final "great chorus" ('Praise to the Holiest'). A concentrated burst of heightened compositional activity led to completion on 6 June. At this stage, of course, Elgar still had to orchestrate the work, and the priority was to provide the choir with copies of the vocal score with which to start rehearsing the work.

But the next month was largely taken up with a protracted and detailed correspondence between Elgar and Jaeger discussing the finer points of the work as Elgar corrected and returned to Novello the remaining proofs. The dialogue between Elgar and Jaeger consumed valuable time and on one passage in particular - where the Soul, having briefly glimpsed the Almighty, sings "Take me away ..." - they could not agree. The last proofs were not returned to Novello until 11 July and it was not until 17 July that Elgar made clear to Jaeger that further debate was futile. Copies of the vocal parts began to appear on 21 July and were in the hands of the choir by early August. Much still remained to be done, however, including the bulk of the orchestration. This Elgar completed on 3 August, but correction of the full score continued throughout the following month and there were still the orchestral parts to write out. At last, all was complete. Elgar knew that he had created a work of outstanding merit.

On completing the full score, he added to it the now famous quotation from John Ruskin's Sesame and Lilies : 'This is the best of me...' Time was now short, although not impossibly so. But, Elgar and Jaeger apart, few could at this point have appreciated the work's complexity. To turn a difficult situation into an impending disaster, the choirmaster, Charles Swinnerton Heap, who was already familiar with Elgar's style and had prepared the choir for a successful premi�re of King Olaf some four years earlier, died unexpectedly in June 1900. The consequences of this and the subsequent early history of the work are well known. An under-rehearsed and somewhat chaotic première, slammed by the majority of the critics present, cast doubts on the work's survival. But fortunately there were those in the audience who could see beyond the choir's failings and recognise a work of great merit. Not least among these was Julius Buths Director of the North Rhein Festival, who arranged widely acclaimed performances in Düsseldorf in 1901 and again in 1902 which set Gerontius on the road to the position it holds today.

It is tantalising to ponder from this distance what might have become of Gerontius without Jaeger. The choir would have received their vocal scores somewhat earlier and, with more time for rehearsal, may have given a more creditable performance at the Birmingham première. A more favourable critical reception might not have cast initial doubts over the work's survival. But the work would undoubtedly have been that little bit poorer. If so, would it still have grown in popularity and critical acclaim to achieve the position of respect it commands today? Continue to :

Question: Who composed the oratorio entitled, 'The Dream of Gerontius'?
Answer: EDWARD ELGAR